


Journey Through the Fog

by nabundan



Series: Naruto enters the MCU [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Naruto, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action & Romance, Angst, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, BAMF Women, Crack Treated Seriously, Interrogation, Jutsu, M/M, Monsters, Some spurts of humor, background development, elemental powers, revealed organization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2020-08-23 07:21:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20238934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nabundan/pseuds/nabundan
Summary: Out of the inferno and into another, Naruto faces the SHIELD and their attempts to reveal his mission. Luckily, he has his teammates to help him out. Or is it really that lucky? As his team and SHIELD butt heads on how to protect the world, Naruto's trying to find a way to fix his mistakes and figure out about his future with Steve.





	1. Through the darkness

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally suppose to be a one-shot. But, my mind was getting frustrated with multiple parts of this story so I had to split it. Also, lots of build up for the first chapter for the next chapter. Also, apologies for the OCs (I hate having them in stories too), but they'll be seen most here. Future chapters will have very few appearances of them.
> 
> Highly recommend reading the previous stories in the series before starting this one, or else you'll get really confused. 
> 
> Warning: Un-betaed.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or MCU

Everything after the fight was a blur.

Naruto briefly remembers being taken to a car and being driven to somewhere. He doesn’t look outside the window, preferring to stare at his hands. As his eyes are tracing down on the exposed seals on his right arm, the car stops, and someone pulls him out of the car.

He instinctively jerks his head upward and sees the Avenger’s tower, it’s large A shining brightly against the night sky. _‘How long was I gone?’_ Naruto wonders before one of the guards pushes him towards the tower’s entrance. They go through the lobby, into the elevator, and move downwards. The elevator stops after moving a couple of floors beneath the tower.

He exits the elevator and is taken into a large room. Naruto looks around the room, the walls were silver colored with one wall being a one way mirror. The room was completely empty, but he spots a camera at each corner of the room.

Naruto is led to the center and stood with the guards, waiting. He lasts for thirty seconds before he clears this throat; he can’t stand the awkward silence. He shuffles his feet. In the corner of his eye, he sees one of the guards frown disapprovingly at him. He turns his head and glares back at him, as if saying ‘Hey, what else do you want me to do?’

They stood for about five minutes, Naruto occasionally shuffling his feet and the guards trying to ignore him, before the door opens. The first person to enter was a scowling black man wearing an eye patch. He walks towards him until they’re facing each other a few feet apart. Another man wearing a white coat enters right after him and stands next to him.

“Mr. Uzumaki.” The man says. “My name is Fury. I run SHIELD and the Avengers.”

Naruto nods in greeting, not knowing what to say. Footsteps bounce off the walls as other people enter the room. It was Natasha, Clint, and Steve. Natasha situates herself against the wall opposite of the one way mirror, leaning her back against it and crosses her arms. Clint stays standing next to the door. Steve doesn’t meet his eyes as he follows Natasha and stands next to her.

“Now that everyone’s here, let’s get down to business. Where are you from and why are you here?” Fury asks. The room’s air is tense with anticipation for his answers.

Naruto pauses and bites his lower lip. Again, he curses at himself for being in this situation. _‘This is bad.’_ Naruto thinks. _‘If push comes to shove, I might have to come clean about my mission. Hopefully it’ll be enough for them to think I work alone. But, until then…’_

“I’m from another world also called Earth, but it’s different from this Earth.” Naruto starts. _‘Very different.’_ He thinks. “As for why I’m here. I can’t tell you.”

He scans at the faces around the room. All of their expressions show nothing. Except one.

Steve….his head is up, and he can see the disbelief in his eyes. Naruto darts his eyes away from him before he could see the anger when he realizes that he lied to him.

Fury hums in thought and crosses his arms. As if he was expecting that response. “And how did you get here?”

“I went through a portal.”

“A portal? Like the ones those things came out of?” It’s Clint who asks.

“Yes.”

“Who do you work for?” Fury asks again.

“No one. I work alone.” Naruto says quickly.

He internally winces. Even for him, that sounds too fake. Still, he hopes that it was believable enough for them. But, judging by the unimpressed look on Fury’s face, it wasn’t.

“Forgive me if I don’t believe that you somehow knew how to deactivate those things by yourself.” Fury states, crossing his arms. “Now, lets try this again: Who do you work for?”

_‘Damn.’_ Naruto thinks. _‘So much for that plan. I guess I’ll just have to not speak until I get out of here. Hopefully soon.’_ The man mentally nods to himself. The room is completely silent and soon, the others realize that he’s not going to answer the question. Fury opens his mouth to talk, to demand really, but his eye pinpoint to an area on Naruto.

“What’s that on your neck?” Fury asks. Naruto tries not to tense. He wasn’t expecting the man to ask about that.

“It’s a ribbon.” He answers plainly, mentally hoping that the answer is enough.

Fury stares at him some more, his eye scanning his face. “And what does it do?”

_‘Damnit.’_ Naruto curses in his head. He needs to work on his poker face; he’s always been bad at holding back his expressions. At least he could lie well if it has some truth, which is what he’s going to have to do.

“The ribbon is for translations.” Naruto explains. “I only speak the language from my world. The ribbon helps both of us to understand each other.”

“A universal translator.” Natasha states. Naruto nods at her.

Fury grunts. “We’re going to need to look at ribbon.” He jerks his head towards the scientist at his right. The scientist scrambles towards Naruto.

As the scientist reaches towards his neck, Naruto stiffens. Everyone else in the room stills. Naruto scans people in the room. They all have stoics faces, but their bodies are tense and ready for a fight. Even Steve. The shinobi realizes, they’re anticipating him to do something; to escape, or worse, attack then. He realizes that whatever he does might make them lose whatever trust he had left with them.

Naruto suddenly flashes back to his childhood; of people whispering behind his back, and being wary around him. As if he was a bomb waiting to explode and kill them all.

No. He won’t be that person, ever.

Naruto clenches his teeth and forces himself to relax his shoulders. Seeing his action, the scientist slowly touches his neck where the ribbon wraps around, and pulls at it to remove it. Immediately, his neck feels empty and exposed against the air. The room was silent for a few seconds. Finally, Fury speaks.

“Now, do you understand us?”

Naruto pauses, but nods slowly. He’s been studying the language whenever he had time. However, it’s sometimes frustratingly difficult to understand what they’re saying,

Fury taps a finger on his crossed arm. He isn’t satisfied with the blonde’s response. “Do. You. Understand. Us.”

Naruto realizes what he means. He wants him to speak to him, to speak his language. He hesitates, worried about exposing his language, his world’s language, to people that don’t know his world. But, he doesn’t have a choice, not if he wants their relationship to strain further. After a few tense seconds of silence, Naruto opens his mouth.

_“Yes, I understand.”_ Naruto says, his native language flowing smoothly from his mouth.

“Japanese? His language is Japanese?” Clint turns his head to looks at the others.

“Yes, but it doesn’t sound like a Tokyo dialect.” Natasha states. “I’ve never heard of it. It’s possible that it could be somewhere from a rural area.”

“Like from a small village?” Steve’s voice cuts though the room. It’s the first time he’s spoken since they’ve entered the room. The man looks at Naruto, his gaze like stone.

Naruto winces. _‘I deserved that.’_ He thought, his shoulders slumping a little more. He sees Steve, clench his jaws and turns his stare back to the rest of the group.

“Whatever’s the case, we’ll still have to question him.” Fury speaks out. Naruto resists the urge to sigh; he’s not surprised.

Surprisingly, Steve is.

“Question him? He surrendered willingly, and hasn’t harmed any of us.” Naruto looks at Steve in shock. The other man doesn’t meet his gaze, and instead stares at Fury.

“I gotta agree with Cap here. Plus, he did save us back there.” Clint speaks up, shrugging.

Fury lets out a displeased grunt. “I don’t care if he’s the goddam savior of the world, he’s an unknown to us, and is possibly working with others. I’ll be damned if I don’t figure it out.”

‘I don’t trust you.’ Were the unspoken words in the room. And Naruto agrees with him. A guy comes out of nowhere with high level combat skills, unknown powers, and is destroying monster-making portals. It would make anyone in Fury’s position feel suspicious and cautious.

_“Alright. I’ll accept your questioning.”_ Naruto says. _‘For a moment.’_ He thinks. _“However, don’t expect me to answer your questions.”_

_‘Good luck trying to get information out of me, Baldy.’_ Naruto mentally pushes his thought towards Fury.

Fury turns to looks at the rest of the group. “Anyone have an idea of what the hell he just said?”

“I think he agreed to the questioning.” Clint speaks, his gaze at Naruto. “And something about not answering.” Naruto nods at the man in approval.

Fury scowls, and turns his head to face Naruto. “I don’t give a shit if he agrees; he’s doing it whether he wants to or not.” Naruto scowls right back at Fury, irritated. _‘Asshole.’_

“As for answering.” Fury begins. “Let’s just say we’re good at convincing people to tell us what we want.”

_‘Good luck.’_ Naruto goads in his head. _‘It’ll take more than interrogations for me to answer anything.’_ He think fervidly. _‘I’ll die before I reveal the organization.’_

_‘Their goal is too important.’_

The door to the room opens. Five soldiers enter the room with one of them holding something white and blue; handcuffs. Immediately, Steve protests again.

“Fury, is this really necessary?” Steve asks, his face frowning in disapproval and his eyes tired.

“Captain, again, I don’t give a damn if he agreed to this. He may or may not decide he doesn’t want to anymore and try to escape. Or fight us.” Fury says, his voice becoming increasingly irritated. “So this is a precaution. For all of us.”

Steve continues to frown, but doesn’t respond back.

Naruto silently extends his arms out. The soldier places the restraint on his wrists, and it locks with a quiet hiss. He looks down at his cuffs and bites down his lips to resist the urge to laugh. Thick, electronically activated handcuffs with small blue indented lines tracing parallel to his wrists. The handcuffs only attaches his wrists tightly together, leaving his hands exposed.

He could get out these things in five seconds with his powers; twenty without.

Still, he agreed for the interrogations; though only for a while. The guards immediately surround him once the cuffs were placed, and they slowly herd him towards the exit. As he’s led to the exit, he turns to glance at Steve just in time for the other man to look at him. For a brief moment, they look at each other. And Naruto can finally see him. Those blue eyes that showed warmth and adoration, now show fatigue and pain.

It hurts him to see that he was the one who did this to him. All because thought with his heart instead of his head.

Naruto lowers his eyes. _“I’m sorry.”_ He whispers, hoping the emotions in his voice communicates with the other man. 

A second later, he’s at the exit door and out of the room.

* * *

“This is a formality. He’s showing that he’s being compliant.” The group turns to Natasha. Her arms are still crossed as she leans against the wall, staring at the door where Naruto exited.

“I saw him look down the moment the cuffs were placed. He immediately knew how to break out of them, suppressed powers or not. And I bet that when he enters his cell, he’ll find all five escape routes.” Natasha pauses. “He’s extremely skilled at what he does.”

“As long as he’s doing whatever the hell he’s doing now, I don’t give a damn if he knows how to get out.” Fury turns to the scientist next to him. “Find out about that ribbon and whatever the hell it does. I’ve got a feeling there’s something more to it than a portable Babel Fish.”

The scientist nods before speeding off to exit the room. The rest of the group walk their way towards it as well. Steve was about to pass Natasha before she spoke.

“You sure know how to pick’em, Steve.” Steve stops in front of her. He sighs, feeling a headache growing along with his heartache. He raises his hand and pinches the bridge of his nose to ward it off.

“How did I not notice this? I saw scrolls in his apartment for Christ’s sake! I thought they were from his home in Japan.”

“You didn’t know.” Natasha states. “I told you, he’s very good at what he does. And that includes hiding who he is.”

“See, that’s the thing.” Steve says, staring at the exit door. “I don’t know if he was really hiding anything. When we talked about our past, they were extremely detailed, as if he really was there. There was no way he was faking them.” He pauses. “It’s just. I don’t know if this was part of his plan.”

‘Of being with me.’ Was the unspoken line.

“Maybe.” Natasha pauses. “Those stories he told you, they were true. I have a feeling that what you two had, it wasn’t something he expected.” Steve turns to look at her, the lost was in his eyes. Natasha stares back, hard, but with a sliver of sympathy beneath her green eyes.

Natasha reaches up and places a hand on Steve’s arm. “Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out.”

* * *

Naruto decides to give them a week to figure out what they want to do with him. He’s in the interrogation room again, staring at the agent in front of him. He has brown hair with a receding hairline, the top of his head is a little flat, and is wearing circular glasses. He’s been asking him questions since he’s been in custody; apparently, he’s one of best interrogators they have.

He’s been here for three days, and they’ve made no progress.

_“I told you already, Frog-face. I’m not going to answer your questions.”_ Naruto drawls in Japanese. He shifts uncomfortably, the cheap gray jumpsuit that they forced in him scratches against his skin. The agent purses his lips, widens his eyes, and his eyebrows flatten down. Whenever he does that, and he does it a lot, it reminds Naruto of an angry frog.

They’ve been asking the same questions, and he’s been answering in his language; which the agent doesn’t understand. Apparently, the agent is fluent in Japanese. However, Naruto’s dialect is something they’ve never heard of and, judging by the agent asking the same questions over and over, it makes it almost impossible for him to understand him.

So, it’s been a circle of questions with frustrating confusion from the agent, and complete boredom from Naruto.

“I’m going to ask you again: Who sent you here?” The agent asks with his teeth gritting.

_“And I’ll say it again, Frog-face: I’m not telling you.”_ Naruto drawls, his voice dripping in boredom. He’s leaning forward with an elbow propping on the table and a hand underneath his chin; a complete picture of disinterest.

That finally seemed to have caused the agent to snap.

“Enough!” The agent finally shouts. He stands up, his chair squeaking loudly against the floor. “I know you’ve been saying the same thing for every question I’ve asked, and I know you understand me. So. Tell. Me. Who sent you here, and why?”

Naruto sighs; this is getting troublesome. Great, now he’s starting to sound like Shikamaru. He should probably set this straight before he turns into his best friend.

“I will only say this one time.” Naruto answers carefully in English, a thick Japanese accent nearly smothering his words. The agent stands still in silent shock; it’s the first time he’s spoken English since they removed his ribbon.

“Your…organization. It is a secretive one. No one is supposed to know about it. Mine is the same.” Naruto stares at him intently. “You will not find anything about them, and you will get nothing from me.”

He removes his arm from the table, and leans back to slouch against the chair. He’s returned back to his relaxed and unfazed state. _“Understand, Frog-face?”_ He says, switching back to Japanese.

He sees the agent face dumbfounded for a moment, before flushing into a bright red. Just as Naruto thought he was going to explode, a voice comes out the speaker in the upper corner of the room.

“Agent Morris, return to your station.” Ah. So, that’s what his name is.

Morris closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He stands up and give Naruto a furious glare before exiting the room. Naruto resists the urge to smirk in triumphant, but he could feel the corner of his lips curl up.

That feeling instantly goes away when he see Steve open the door.

Naruto immediately straightens back up his posture, and stares at other man in shock. Steve looks back at him midway through the door for a few seconds. Then he turns his head as he enters the room and closes the door. He walks forward until he’s near the chair there Morris was at. However, he remains standing with his face and body facing the younger man. He glances briefly at Naruto’s exposed right arm, but quickly turns his attention back to his face, his arms crossing low in front of his chest. Both of them stare at each other in silence.

“Naruto.” Steve speaks out first.

“…Steve.” Naruto replies back, his hands clenching slightly on the arms of the chair.

“You can speak English.” Steve states rather than asks, his face unreadable.

“…Yes.” Naruto says carefully, cautiously.

“How much English do you know?”

“I…been learning. For months.” He has been occasionally taking his ribbon off, and trying to understand the language.

It’s dangerous, removing his ribbon like that and cutting off communications with his teammates. But, something about this world made him really want to learn the language. Maybe he’s lived here too long, or he wanted to learn more about this world, about Steve’s world. However, it’s too late to be thinking about it with what’s happened or happening.

“Why? Were you expecting something like this to happen?”

Naruto stays silent. He sees Steve exhale sharply, lowers his head, and uncrosses his arms. He uses his hand to harshly push back the bangs from his face and rests his hand against the back of his neck, his shoulders slumping. His face is downtrodden and tired. He looks like he’s aged in years. Steve looks back up at him.

“Naruto, you’ve gotta let us know something. We can’t let you go until you do.”

Naruto continues to be quiet, starting at Steve. He’s trying his best to mentally tell him that he can’t do that. That this mission, this organization, is much bigger than he is. He can’t just betray them and tell them everything, it’ll hurt all the progress that’s been happening for years. All the worlds that’d been saved because of the organization’s help. All done secretly; in order to prevent any fallouts cause by them or the portals that would affect the world’s status quo.

Steve looks like he realizes that Naruto will continue to say nothing. His sighs; his eyes look even more tired.

“Naruto, at least tell me your organization’s name. Your owe me that.”

He sounds so broken. Naruto feels a stab of hurt and anger. That he allowed himself to think with his emotions and give this man power over him. Power that he possibly has no idea he has. And Naruto knows that he can’t deny this request, not after seeing him like this. Because he’s right; from all the lies he told him, he does owe him at least something.

“Delapsus.” The name escapes from his mouth. Instantly, he feels betrayed. By him or Steve, he doesn’t know. His turns his face towards the side, his eyes staring at the ground and his jaw clenched.

“...Thank you.” Naruto says nothing. There was silence. Naruto hears footsteps turn and move towards the exit. There was another pause, and the doors open and closes.

And he’s alone in the room.

Naruto blinks back the tears forming in the corner of his eyes. He huffs a sad attempt of a laugh, and slumps against the back of the chair. _‘I really fucked up, didn’t I?’_ He inhales and exhales out a shaky breath.

Four more days.

Then he’s out, whether they want it or not.

* * *

He’s in his cell when he feels it.

It’s been a day since he’d been interrogated. Since then, he’s been staying in his cell staring up at the ceiling, and touching the wall next to his bed. He has his right arm, still unbandaged, touching against the cool tiles of the wall. He could have used it to scan the area and look for more escape routes, but he didn’t. He made a promise, to stay for one week, before he leaves.

Then, a burst of energy vibrates through the walls. It’s very faint in the walls, but there’s no way he couldn’t notice it.

Someone came out of a portal. And it’s one that a Delapsus member goes through when traveling to other worlds. _‘Shit.’_ Naruto curses. Is one of his members trying to get him out? He presses hand against the wall harder and concentrates.

In the entrance of the building, a dark glow covers a female figure. Immediately a group of footsteps stomp towards the figure. Voices vibrate against the floors and walls in the room, but Naruto can’t understand what they’re saying.

However, he knows that female figure. It’s Alexandra.

_‘What’s she doing here?’_ Members from Delapsus weren’t allowed to enter another member’s world unless requested, or in dire danger. And Naruto hasn’t done either of that, so why is she here?

The vibrations of sounds grow bigger, bouncing more frequently against the walls. It looks like other people near Alexandra are shouting something. There’s no sound vibrations coming from her dark figure. Then, small vibrations are coming from her, and suddenly Naruto can’t hear or feel anything; they’re silent.

Another vibration comes from a tall male figure, and then they’re all walking into the building; including Alexandra, Naruto continues to focus on their footsteps, tracking where they’re going. It isn’t until he realizes that they’re walking towards him, that he lets go of the connection and sits up from his bed.

The first person he sees through the bars, is Fury. Following behind him are a group of soldiers, and Alexandra in center of them. Her black hair is down, parted in the middle and fanning around her chest, partially covering her buttoned up lavender shirt. It pairs with a black blazer and slacks. She looks more like a business woman than the prodigal scientist she is. Naruto stands up and walks towards the bars.

Alexandra turns to Naruto. **“Naruto. It’s good to see you”** She speaks in Bhale. It was a language that very few people in the universe use, which allows them to discretely communicate with each other if a member didn’t have their ribbon.

Naruto stops in front of her. **“Alexandra.”** He opens his mouth to ask her why she’s here, but gets interrupted.

“How many damn languages do you people speak.” Fury states rather than asks, his voice showing irritation.

“We are a secret organization for a reason, Mr. Fury.” Alexandra gently speaks, turning her head to face Fury. “There are layers of precautions in place, so if there’s a _mishap_,” Naruto winces at the jab. “the organization won’t fall apart.”

Fury grunts, but stays silent.

**“Why are you here?”** Naruto asks, his head slightly cocking to the side.

**“You haven’t been wearing your ribbon for four days.”**

Naruto instinctively reaches up and rub his bare neck. **“Er, yeah. They confiscated it after my mission.”**

Alexandra stares at him, as if she was searching for something. After a few moments, she sighs. Naruto suppresses the urge to wince again; it’s like having your mom disappointed in you. Alexandra turns to Fury.

“Mr. Fury, if you please.”

Fury stares down at her for a second, but Alexandra maintains her gaze unflinching. Naruto’s not surprised; there’s only a handful of people who can intimidate her, and Fury isn’t going to be one of them. Finally, he jerks his head towards Naruto. One of the guards comes over with jingling keys, and unlocks the cell door. Once the door was open, Naruto cautiously steps out of his prison.

“Remember our deal, Ms. Heartilly.” Fury says. Naruto jerks his head towards Alexandra. _‘Deal?’_ Alexandra gives the slightest shake of her head at him; not now. He sees in the corner of his eye, Fury turning to walk away. He opens his mouth before a realizes it.

“So what, that it? You’re letting me go?” Naruto dislikes hearing his accent in this world’s language, but he needed to ask.

“Naruto.” A warning voice. He turns to Alexandra. Her face is impassive, but her eyes show sternness. One of her hands was extended towards him, his black choker in her palm. He hears Fury and his guards footsteps fade.

Naruto clenches his teeth; he knows when he’s being told to shut up. He reaches and grasps the ribbon from her hand. Quickly, he wraps it around his neck and feels relief at the minuscule, yet comforting pressure.

“Let’s go.” Alexandra says, already turning around and walking down the hall. Naruto quickly follows behind her, silently. As they walk towards the entrance, he sees soldiers stationing on both sides of the walls, staring at them. They both do their best to ignore the stares, and stops at the entrance door. In a few seconds the doors slide open, revealing the green grass and blue skies from the outside. Alexandra was the first to exit the building.

Before taking the last step to the outside, Naruto pauses and turns his head back. He knows he’s being watched, all the guards continue to stare at them as they’re leaving. But, he has a feeling that Steve is also watching him from somewhere. Naruto feels his heart clench at the thought of Steve; the man that he deeply cares for, but lied to so many times for the sake of his mission. He clenches his jaw at that thought. His eyes sweeps his eyes around the area, but knows Steve can hide himself if he doesn’t want to be seen.

_‘I’m sorry.’_ Naruto desperately thought, hoping that Steve would somehow hear or sense him.

With one last sweep around the area, he turns back to the front and exits the prison.

* * *

Turns out, the deal was to tell them about the portals that were going to popup in their world. And, to tell them why they were here.

Naruto stares at Alexandra, dumbfounded. Honestly, he was expecting them to just leave him in prison until he decides to leave. They know that he can escape and that he has the skills to fight his way out if needed; in fact, they all do. But, still…

“Why?” Naruto asks as he stands in front of Alexandra. They’re in a Manhattan hotel room that Alexandra bought for the night. Once they entered the room, she took off her blazer and headed to the tea kettle. With an offhanded, but polite “Please, sit down.” She proceeded to prepare two cups of green tea.

Naruto sits down at the foot on one of the twin sized beds in the room and stares at Alexandra’s back. As Alexandra shuffles around the tea bags and waits for the water to boil, she speaks.

“The rest of the organization made a consensus statement that we had made a miscalculation about your arrival to this world. The arrival for portals was far later than we had expected, and you were here for too long.” Alexandra pauses, both in speaking and her body movement. “Far too long for you become established as a citizen in this world, and become noticeable.”

Naruto stays silent, waiting for her to finish. The kettle clicks off once the water boils. The woman pours the boiling water into the cups and turns to hand one to Naruto.

“Because of our mistake, we decided that the best way to make it up to you while trying to make this as quiet as possible, was to tell SHIELD about us in return for your release. They had also agreed to allow us to continue with our mission here.” She pauses and moves to sit down on one of the chairs near the window.

“Due to the nature of SHIELD, it’ll hopefully be kept quiet from the rest of the world and all they’ll do is monitor you during your missions.”

Naruto snaps his head up from staring at his cup and looks at Alexandra. _‘Wait, my missions?’_

“I’m still assigned to this world?” He asks, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Alexandra stares at the tea before she picks it up and blows at the top of the cup for a couple of time. As she takes a sip, the sleeve of her blouse slides down a few centimeters, revealing a thin black band on her left wrist.

“There’s no need for you to leave this mission. A secret organization recognizing another secret organization won’t effect the status quo of this world.” She looks up to stare at Naruto, a wry smile appearing on her face. “At least not too much.”

Naruto reaches up and rubs the back of his neck. He…doesn’t know how he feels about this.

“When are you going to tell him?” He asks about Fury.

“He gave me tomorrow to meet with him and his group.” She explains. Suddenly, she looks away and bites her lips, as if she unsure about something. She then carefully says “The group is The Avengers.” She looks back to stare at him, gauging his reaction.

And Naruto takes a quick inhale a breath. He’s not surprised, he knows that they work under Fury; the way that they followed his orders when he was first to the interrogation room. But hearing their name, and thinking about their leader, it still felt unexpected. Alexandra continues talking.

“Since you’re still assigned to this world, I would like you to join me for this meeting.” She stares at him. “However, I feel that something had happened, and that going to it will make you uncomfortable. So, I won’t force you to go.”

Naruto shakes his head. “No, I’ll go.” He’s going to go to the meeting, if not for the mission, but at least to settle things.

Yeah, he’s fucking terrified. But, he’s never back away from doing what’s right. And it won’t happen this time.

Alexandra nods and takes another sip. “For all that’s happened. I’m glad you’re safe, Naruto.” Her shoulders slump a little and her eyes lose their harden edge. Suddenly, she’s not the leader but instead the friend that Naruto was used to seeing. “While I know everyone in the organization is more than capable in getting out these situation, I still worry.”

Naruto feels his heart tug at her comment. While her and her twin are both good at worrying about their group, Alexandra tends to worry more and worry quietly. It’s not because she’s the leader of the group, but rather she cares for all of them; it’s her nature. The blond smiles at her.

“Thanks for worrying about me, Ali.” At the sound of her nickname, Alexandra’s brown eyes brighten. He grins. “But, I’m doing fine. I did have a, uh, slight bump during my time here, but it’s something that I have to fix by myself. And I’m going to do my best to do that.” 

Once he finishes speaking, Alexandra stares at him for a moment. Then her eyes widen in shock as if she realizes something. Naruto freezes, and realizes that he just outed himself for being involved with someone from this world, while he was on a mission. _‘Fuck.’_ Thankfully, she doesn’t comment about it and lowers her eyes as if to hide what she found out. She resumes sipping her tea.

Suddenly feeling thirsty and needing a distraction, Naruto drinks almost half of his tea in one go. He jerks back the cup from his mouth and coughs, holding himself back from choking as boiling tea runs down his throat. Alexandra snaps up to look at him and starts to rise up in concern.

Naruto frantically waves her down, his arms moving in the air and nearly spilling the rest of the hot tea. “Ah! I’m fine!” He chokes out, voice raspier than usual. He forces out a nervous chuckle. “I, uh, forgot the tea was still hot.”

Alexandra slowly sits back down and stares at him blankly. Her lips twitch. Quickly, she covers her mouth with a hand, and lets out a girlish giggle.

“Good to know you haven’t changed, Naruto.” Alexandra gently teases at him as she moves her hand back to her lap, revealing her mouth shaped in a fond smile.

Naruto feels himself relax, the awkward atmosphere gone, and grins.

* * *

The next morning, they both arrive at the outside front doors of the Avenger’s tower. Alexandra is still wearing her blazer and black slacks, but she’s wearing a royal purple blouse underneath. Last night, they had managed to portal their way into Naruto’s apartment for him to grab some clothes. He got to change out of his prison clothes, and back into an orange and gray thin pullover hoodie with indigo jeans. He also managed to bandage up his right arm.

“Are you ready?” Alexandra asks, both their gazes still fixed at the tower.

Naruto takes a deep breath. _‘Alright, let’s do this.’_ “Yeah.”

They both walk to the entrance. At the lobby, a female wearing business clothes stands in the center. She stares at them as they walk towards her.

“Follow me.” She turns and heads to the elevator. Naruto and Alexander turn to look at each other with expressions of hesitation on their faces. Finally, the blond man shrugs, and they both turn to follow the woman into the elevator.

Once the elevators close, they start moving up. Naruto looks at the elevator buttons, seeing them light up one by one. The number ninety-two lights up and the elevator stops. Before the doors open, Naruto takes a deep breath. Alexandra touches the back of his arm, as if to ground him. Naruto turns to give her a smile, though he doesn’t know he’s trying to reassure her or himself. When elevator doors open, she moves her hand away.

The elevator takes them to a catwalk. They’re facing what looks like a large command center with screens covering one side of the wall. A floor below them, dozens of people in SHIELD uniforms are walking, talking, or working on a computer. Above them, a ceiling several feet tall, covering in darkness despite the lights and monitors. To their right, the catwalk widens into a large area, and there’s a large circular table with chairs, as if used to over look the people working from below.

The Avengers were sitting at the table with Fury standing at the front.

The unknown woman exits first, but stands aside the elevator. Naruto stares at the table, scanning the familiar faces of the superheroes. They both exit the elevator and walk towards the group. As soon as they are a couple of feet near Fury, the other man speaks

“Ms. Heartilly, Mr. Uzumaki. Good to have both of you to join us.” Fury nods at the two of them.

Alexandra nods back. “Thank you for having us. And for arranging this meeting.” She scans around the table. “I see that not all of the Avengers are here. I recall that Thor, god of thunder, was part of the team?”

Naruto looks at Alexandra. He didn’t remember a god of thunder being the part of the Avengers. He quickly looks back at his memories; in fact, Steve and the rest of the Avengers had never mentioned Thor. The blond wonders if they just didn’t want to talk about him or they just assumed he knew about him.

“Thor is currently back in Asgard, running his kingdom. So he’s unable to join meeting, but he will be briefed about the situation when he returns.” Fury states.

Alexandra simply nods at the response, looking as if she has no issues with it. With that, Fury gestures at them to sit in the two empty chairs in front of them. The only available chairs were between Steve and Tony. 

Naruto tenses, feeling eyes boring into him. He’s been trying to ignore the animosity filling around the table, particularity towards him. Though, he knows it’s his fault that it got to this, he isn’t going to back down. The past, his mistake, that caused the present doesn’t matter now. What matters, is this current meeting for the future of his organization and of the people in this world.

And so, Naruto forces himself to straighten his back. Just as he was about to step towards the chair next to Steve, Alexandra brushes by him and sits herself next to the man. Naruto gapes at the woman, wondering what the hell just happened. Even Steve gives a taken back look at his new seat partner before realizing what he’s done, and quickly looks back to the center of the table. Alexandra simply stares back at Naruto, her face expressionless but her eyes showing a stern glint. Like a teacher silently telling a student to sit down and be on his best behavior.

Upon that gaze, he mentally shakes himself. _‘Focus on the mission first.’_ The blond thinks determinedly. He moves and sits next to Tony, who pointedly ignores him and stares in disinterest at the center of the table. Once both Delapsus members were seated, Fury was the first to talk.

“I’m assuming that you’re still in agreement to our deal?” Fury asks as he leans back against his chair, and fold his hands on top of his crossed legs

Alexandra nods, her hands fold on top of the table, and her back ramrod straight. “Yes. Our members collectively agree that we will discuss with you about our organization and, in return, you and your team will allow us to continue with our mission here.”

Fury tilts his chin up in what looks like he’s in agreement. However, with the glint in his eye, it also looks like he’s thinking of something else. “Actually, I want to add an addendum to the agreement. Whatever missions you have here, in our world, my team will join you.”

Both Delapsus members tense. _‘What the fuck?’_ Naruto thinks. He turns his head to Alexandra. With the exception of a clenched jaw, her face showed no reaction. “That was not what we agreed on yesterday.” Alexandra states firmly.

“No, it wasn’t. But I got to thinking: Why should we let your people run around in our world and destroy these portals when we can learn from you on how to destroy them ourselves.” Fury states nonchalantly. Naruto looks at the other man, flabbergasted. _‘Is he serious?’_ “That way, we can solve our own problems, and your organization won’t have to keep coming into our world every time one of those things show up.”

“I don’t think you understand, Mr. Fury.” Alexandra replies back. “These portals can’t be destroyed based on observation. And we will not let you experiment on them.”

“And why not?” Fury asks, tilting his head up at the woman.

“Because when they interacted with outside forces, they fortify themselves and react even stronger.”

“Like a defense mechanism.” Bruce states, the top part of his body leaning forward towards the table in interest.

Alexandra nods at the scientist. “Exactly. Which is why the portal from a week ago activated so strongly. A recently activated portal is usually small and releases weak monsters. The longer it stays activated, the larger it becomes. The larger it becomes, the more likely that stronger monster will appear. This process is accelerated when it’s manipulated by forces alien to its makeup.”

“So we put the portal in a confined area.” Tony states, crossing his arms and leaning backwards. “We make a closed environment where we study it, and whatever comes out of it can be dealt with as they enter.”

Immediately, Naruto replies. “No.” Naruto shakes his head in frustration. Damnit, they need to get it through their heads! “Once a portal is activated, it’s already starts expanding. In two days, one if you keep touching it, the portal can be large enough for a dragon to come through.”

Fury and the Avengers turns their gazes to Naruto, their expressions varying in shock and confusion.

“Wait, a dragon can come out these portals?” Natasha asks, her eyebrows furrowing in disbelief.

Naruto nods. His mind briefly flashes back to a mission one year ago. Sometime noon, he had just detected the portal in that world. However, it was miles away and trying to portal to the location risked too much time wasted since he didn’t know the exact location. So he was only able to get there by foot. By the time he arrived, it was nighttime the portal was in the center of a village; already activated. The villagers surrounded it, and were prodding and attacking it. With all that interaction, the portal became several meters tall and something large had entered through the portal and into the sky; a red dragon.

Naruto clenches his teeth at the memory. With the help of Kurama, he managed to defeat the dragon and the portal, but not before the entire village was destroyed, burned by the dragon’s fire. It was a victory, as the world continues to thrive. But, seeing the charred remains of the bodies before him, it felt empty to him.

As he brings himself back from his past, he feels eyes bearing down at him. Naruto shakes himself from his thoughts, and continues. “Even if you learn everything you can about them, you’ll need us.”

“And why is that?” Tony asks, his head tilting and his eyes narrowing suspiciously at him.

At the corner of his eye, Naruto sees Alexandra narrow her eyes in warning, but he talks before she can stop him. “Without us, there’s no way you can destroy the portals.” Naruto’s eyes scans at the people around the table. “These portals, they were designed so that we can destroy them. And only us.”

There was a defeating silence.

“W-what do you mean by that?” Bruce asks. “Is there some kind of secret mechanism in place that only you two know?”

“It just a door, right?” Clint adds. “Maybe if we just hit it a certain way, it’ll close. Like a puzzle.”

Naruto turns his head again to Alexandra, waiting for her to speak. He’s only been in the organization for a few years, and doesn’t know how exactly everything works. However, Alexandra and her twin were the creators of their division, and should know more about the organization’s history.

Alexandra gives a brief glance back at Naruto before she gives a subtle nod. She turns her gaze back to the group and speaks. “The creator of the organization, she was a madwoman. Since the beginning of time, she’s created these portals for her own entertainment. To see other worlds struggle under the influx of monsters just because she wanted to play God. And when she got tired, she would send members of Delapsus to clean up.”

“She embedded something into us that allows only us to destroy the portals and no one else.” Alexandra pauses, reflecting of past worlds and their failures, of her failures, in helping others appear in her mind. “We’ve tried find ways for people to destroy them, but we haven’t found it yet.”

“And this creator of yours.” Bruce speaks up. “Is she…?”

Alexandra shakes her head. “The old division killed her decades ago. The creation of portals has ended. However, there are still hundreds of inactive portals that she created before her death. We need to get rid of them before they activate and fulfill their purpose; to become an open door between the worlds with no monsters and the worlds that inhabit monsters.” Alexandra pauses to look up, and stare at the people in front of her, her gaze firm and absolute.

“That is our organization’s goal, and why we are here.” Alexandra scans around the people sitting at the table. “It’s also the reason why we are the only ones who can destroy these portals.”

And so, their bargain of the deal was done. Everyone at the table is silent, processing the information. Naruto glances at Alexandra, sharing a hopeful expression; trusting themselves that the explanation is enough for them to realize the gravity of the situation, and the restrictions that are bound to it.

“We have to try.”

Naruto jerks his head towards the voice. It’s the first time Steve had spoken during the meeting. The said man is staring at Alexandra, however briefly glancing at Naruto, before returning his stare back towards the woman.

“You said that you weren’t able to help other people destroy portals by themselves. But like Fury said, if something were to happen to your organization, we can’t be reliant on you every time a portal shows up.” Steve continues. “So we need to keep trying. To keep figuring out how to get rid of these things ourselves. Because this is our world, and we’re here to protect it from any forces that threatens it.”

Both Delapsus members become stunned with silence. The Captain’s words completely ignores their explanation about the portals. However…

_‘He’s right.’_ Naruto thinks. He should know; he wouldn’t be where he was if he didn’t try his damn hardest to be the best. All to protect Konoha and his friends. Naruto turns his head to Alexandra. She stares back at Steve before sliding her eyes to the wall behind him, as if in contemplation. After a few seconds, she turns her gaze to Naruto. her brown eyes conflicted.

Between the two of them, their ribbons glow a faint sheen. It was so faint that it couldn’t be seen unless a glint of light was hitting it. With the ribbons, they could hear their teammates in the division talking about the agreement.

And it’s divided.

One member says that they should accept. After all, if any of them were in the same situation, they would do the same thing. Another member argues that Delapsus doesn’t know who these people are, and it’s unknown whether they would use their new gained knowledge for nefarious ways. The last member, the one who would break the tie between the two sides, remains silent.

Back at the table, Naruto is also conflicted. And so he looks at Alexandra, hoping that she could feel his support for her. Like all leaders, Alexandra has made mistakes. However, Naruto has seen her always correct them with a quick mind and a good heart. And she knows when to ask for help. So whatever she does, he knows that she’ll do what’s right. _‘Whatever choose, I’m with you.’_ He thinks fiercely.

Alexandra takes a deep breath. “We still agrees to the deal.” The other Delapsus members become silent. She waits briefly for any objections. There were none. She then continues to speak to the people at the table. “However, I would like for us to discuss more thoroughly into the details of this deal. Preferably before the next portal arrives.”

“And do you know when the next one is coming?” Fury asks.

“We-“ Their ribbons pulse at the same time, startling them into silence.

**“There’s one that just activated.”**

Naruto and Alexandra turn to look at each other in shock. It’s Davina; she’s communicating through the ribbon. The Avengers stare at the duo, curious at their sudden change of expression. After a moment, Alexandra recovers and notices their confusion.

“One of our members has contacted us through our ribbon.” She explains before raising her left wrist close to her mouth.

**“Where’s the location?”** Alexandra speaks in Bhale.

As she finishes her sentence, the lights in the room flicker. Everyone stares at the lights above them, and they see the ceiling start to move. Or rather, the dark parts where the lights aren’t exposed. The shadows move downwards and towards the table. The Avengers quickly rise up from their seats and take a step backwards as the shadows in front of the table quickly morphs into a black oval.

A female steps out of the portal. With blue-grey eyes and long wild black hair, it’s Davina. She’s already in her battle gear, a dark green hakama, black short skirt with stockings, and black ankle length boots. The woman quickly glances at her sister and Naruto before paying her attention to the Avengers.

“Sorry for interrupting your meeting.” Davina says. “However, a portal has just opened a few miles away from here, and it needs to be taken care of.”

“First off, who are you?” Tony asks.

Alexandra answers. “This is Davina, the other leader of our division.” Davina nods at her twin in acknowledgement. The other sibling stands up from her seat, as if getting ready to leave. Naruto quickly follows.

“And where are you going?” Fury asks, his eye piecing at the trio.

Alexandra straightens her back and stares back at the man. “We are going to find the portal and destroy it.”

“As I recalled, you just agreed to having the Avengers join you whenever a portal appears.” Fury states, his eye firm and holds no arguments. “So, I suggest you wait for my team before any of you even so looks at the thing.”

However, Alexandra seems to have lost some of her patience with Fury.

“You added an unexpected addendum to our agreement. Now, we are adding one for ourselves.” The woman stares down at him. “In unexpected events of already activated portals appearing, members of the Delapsus may do their duties immediately and without the supervision of SHIELD or the Avengers.”

Fury narrows his eye at Alexandra. “And you expect me to agree to this?”

The woman stands firm. “We were the ones who have first agreed to this deal, expecting good intentions from your team. I hope that you will have the same inclination.”

Fury stays silent, his face clearly showing that their mentalities were different.

Seeing his expression, Davina speaks. “I have been listening during this meeting, Mr. Fury; all of our members have. Despite agreeing to this, we will not allow you to pursue your overreaching attempt on holding us down as heard during this meeting. You and your team may join and assist us. You can even use some of the debris from the destroyed portals for your experiments. But unless you want innocent blood on your hands, you will not stop us.”

Naruto could hear Fury’s teeth grind in agitation. Davina is not known for her patience with erratic people, and can be hot tempered during diplomacy talks; especially with people who try to make their jobs difficult. Which is why her twin usually is the person in charge with talking to leaders in worlds.

“However.” Alexandra adds pliantly . “As a gesture of good will, we will wait for the Avengers to prepare.”

The group turns to look at Fury. The man stares at Davina as if he was assessing her. Davina stares back defiantly, her chin tilting slightly upwards and her eyes expressing that she’s not backing down. Naruto clenches his fists in anticipation of what’s going to happen. Despite the disagreements between Fury and the twins, it could possibly be the first team effort with the Avengers and Delapsus. While the organization doesn’t need to the Avengers, it will make destroying the portals a lot faster.

However, whatever stubbornness that’s happening between the three, isn’t helping the situation right now. After a few seconds of silence and not seeing anyone budge, Naruto loses his own patience and breaks the silence.

“Look, we can talk about this later.” Naruto speaks, his voice firm and frustrated. This is why he hates talking diplomacy. “But right now, we’re wasting time and need to focus on getting rid of this portal. So, please.” The man turns to face Steve, the only one he knows that can override Fury’s orders.

“We deal with this later, and find the portal. Together.”

Steve stares back at Naruto. It’s the first time in days that they have made direct eye contact. His eyes seem to be scanning his as if they were searching for something. Naruto ignores the shiver down his spine and stares back. He tries to convey the urgency, that whatever issues they have needs to be pushed back. And that the main goal right now is to protect the people in this world. Finally, Steve presses his lips together and nods.

“Avengers, suit up.”


	2. Into the Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the (veery) late post! Life had caught up with me and couple with the writer's block from the fight scenes, it's been a doozy trying to fully write this out. But it's now finished!
> 
> Warning: Un-betaed.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or MCU

The Delapsus team and Avengers decided to allow everyone to prepare for twenty minutes before they begin finding the portal. Davina had managed to grab Naruto and Alexandra’s gear before she barged into their meeting.

Fury had someone lead them into changing rooms for their SHIELD officers. The area looked like a standard locker room, though with gun racks leaning against the walls.

Naruto places his bag of regular clothes into a locker. He’s in his fighting gear; a loose black shirt with sleeves at forearms length, and black cargo pants tucked into his black Tabi boots. A small red circle symbolizing the Uzumaki clan rests between his shoulders blades on his shirt.

It’s a far cry from the bright orange jumpsuits he wore when he was young. However, he knows that almost all of his missions need stealth. So, sadly, his favorite color needed to go. But, as he stares at the burnt orange weapon pack wrapped around his waist, not all of it has to be gone.

He’s just finishing tying up his boots when he hears footsteps approach him. He stands up and looks at Steve in front of him, wearing his uniform minus the helmet. The other man scans him up and down his body, staring with his eyebrows up in disbelief. Naruto shuffles his legs in an unusual feeling of self-consciousness.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Steve talks. “Ya know, I’ve never seen you without this few orange.” Naruto immediately replies.

“Hey! Orange is a good color.” He can see Steve trying to not smile at him and something about that makes him happy; that he could be forgiven for all that he’s done to the man. 

Steve nods a direction to his weapon belt. “Wouldn’t people see that when you’re trying to hide?”

Naruto feels himself grin cockily. They can try. And fail. “Don’t worry, they won’t see me.”

Steve stares at his face for a moment, before shaking his head incredulity at his confidence. He doesn’t see the hint of smile at the corner of the older man’s lips.

“We’ll be heading out in 5 minutes.”

Naruto quickly sobers after his playfulness and nods. Steve turns around to head back out. Seeing his back, Naruto feels a surge of confidence and swallows back the nervousness from his throat.

“Hey Steve.”

Immediately, Steve turns around and looks at him. There’s now butterflies in his stomach, but he can’t go back.

“After we get rid of this portal, let’s talk. Yeah?” Naruto couldn’t help but put some hope in his voice.

Steve’s lips flatten into a line, and he nods solemnly. “After this.”

  


* * *

  


Once Naruto enters the communication center, everyone was there, ready. Tony had a map of New York City pulled up in the center table, a red circle pulsing at a location.

“Twenty minutes ago, there were reports of monsters appearing in Brooklyn.” Tony explains, a quick gesture of his hands zooms the map to Brooklyn. “Most of them being seen between 7th and Prospect avenue with a five mile radius.”

Naruto stares at the map. “I know where that is.” It’s near the park where he and Steve would often go to. They would sit at one of the benches in one of the more hidden areas of the park, and just talk about anything that’s on their mind.

Tony shrugs. “Yeah, everyone does. It’s one of the more popular places in Brooklyn.”

“What he means,” Alexandra explains. “Is that he’ll be able to go there. Now.”

The Avengers turn to look at her in confusion. Naruto can see the corner of her lips twitch upwards; she’s enjoying this. She turns to him.

“Naruto, if you please.” Now he feels himself smirk. As eyes move to him, he turns behind him, and raises his left hand. He imagines the location, remembering the street signs and the buildings. Of the café place that he and Steve tried out. As he remembers, a small potted plant in the corner of the room twitches, its leaves rattle quietly. The plant’s branches elongate, and continues to stretch until reaches a few feet in front of Naruto’s outstretched hand.

The branch curls into a circle, then expands into an oval shape the size of a human. The branches separate from the potted plant as it weaves around the shape, its leaves sprouting on it. Then it stops moving, creating wooden branches and green leaves framing a green lit portal.

“Woah.” Naruto hears someone behind him. He turns half a step and faces the group.

“This’ll take us a few feet north of the invasion site.” He explains. “I’ll can hold it long enough for everyone to go through.”

Steve nods before facing his team. “When we arrive to the scene, Clint and Tony, scout the area and look for any signs of the portal. Natasha and I will be on the ground controlling the battle. Bruce, hang back and assist with civilians unless we need the Hulk.” The man turns to the twins. “You can join us in either areas or proceed with your own plans.”

The sisters look at each other. A glint of black, and suddenly, weapons were in their hands; Alexandra with a spear, and Davina with a bow but no arrow quiver.

“We’ll both assist in the fight.” Alexandra confirms. “I’ll be on the ground with you, Captain.”

“And I’ll be on the rooftops.” Davina says.

Steve nods at the two and turns to Naruto, waiting for his input. Fortunately, the shinobi already knows what he needs to do. “I’ll be on the rooftops, looking for the portal. With my clones, it’ll make the search faster.”

Finally, Steve turns to the center where everyone faces. “Does everyone know their jobs? Because once we’re over there, it’ll be chaos.” Everyone simultaneously nods.

Steve takes a deep breath and exhales. “Alright. Let’s go.”

And so, the everyone heads towards the green portal with the Avengers in the front. As the Avengers enter the portal, Steve falls back to make himself the last to enter. Just as he steps beside Naruto, he turns his head to him. Startled, the other man looks back. The soldier opens his mouth as if to say something, but closes it. To Naruto, the man looked conflicted and didn’t know what to say, but wanted to.

The younger man feels himself smile at the sight, reminding him of when they had their first date.

“See you on the other side?” Naruto says to him.

Steve nods, his lips flattening in an almost grim smile. He turns back to face the portal and enters it. Naruto inhales. For a brief moment, he worries about him. But then he realizes that he’s a super soldier, a hero to almost everyone in this world. _‘He’ll be fine. He can handle himself._’

Footsteps walk towards him and he turns to see the twins pass by him. Alexandra turns her head to him briefly and smiles encouragingly before stepping into the portal. Davina also turns to him. She has a hint of a teasing smile on her face, as if she just founding out about something interesting. But before Naruto could ask her, she leaps into the portal.

The blond furrows his eyebrows. _‘What was that about?’_ He then shrugs; he’ll figure it out later. Or she’ll tell him. With that last thought, he goes into the portal.

As soon as he enters the portal, he immediately exits out into Brooklyn and the portal closes behind him. Quickly, he leaps to the side just as an ice pick shoots to where he was. After years of doing this, he knows it’s never stay in the spot where you exit.

Before he could attack the monster, he hears guns firing and the cry of the monster before falling down. He briefly glances back, and sees police officers with yellow planks behind him. They have a solid line formation, and look like they’re managing to keep the monsters from progressing past them.

He turns back to look at the front of the street. Cars are crushed with some of them burning. Roads are cracked. In the corner, he sees a large snake’s tail in a bushy tree at the sidewalk. A policeman is right underneath it, scanning around the area. In a blink, a tail grabs the man by the waist and yanks him up into the tree.

Naruto sees the blue glow of chakra between the two and quickly throws his kunai at the snake. The kunai goes through the leaves, and the policeman falls down to the ground, his body shaken but unharmed.

With quick hand seals, shadow clones fizzle into existence and jump into battle. Naruto, however, sprints towards a brick building and places a foot on the brick walls. After decades of rigorous training, he doesn’t feel his chakra move to his feet as he runs up the walls. He keeps running until he’s near the top. With the last few feet, he jumps and lands on the rooftop. _‘Alright.’_ Naruto thinks determinedly. _‘Let’s do this!’_ He turns and runs south; towards the center of the fight.

As he jumps between rooftops, he spots some of the Avengers fighting.

Steve is in the middle of the street, surrounded by blue wolves with red eyes and hanging tongues. He blocks a wolf pouncing at him with his shield. Using his strength, he quickly counteracts the pounce by slamming his shield back to the wolf, throwing it several feet away.

A few feet in front of him, Natasha dodges a fire blast from a floating red sphere the size of her head. She suddenly dodged a swipe of a green goblin-like monster next to her, and shoots it with her pistols. She hears the crackling of the fire blast next to her, and knows she won’t be able to dodge it.

Just as she braces herself from the burn, a thudding sound was heard. She turns to see an arrow protruding out of the red sphere. In the next second, ice completely incases it and the sphere crashes onto ground, shattering into pieces. She turns her head towards the source of the arrow, and see Davina up at a fire escape. Natasha nods at her in thanks before turning her attention back to the battlefield.

Naruto hears the sound of propellers before Tony zoom past him. With his armored red and gold hands raised in front of him, he picks off monsters with projectiles as he scans the roads. Clint is on a rooftop across from him, doing the same with his arrows.

_‘Looks like everybody’s handling things well.’_ Naruto finally thinks after seeing everything. After jumping through a few more buildings, he’s at the center and sees Alexandra surrounded by orange and blue striped lizards that are the size of bicycles. They simultaneously pounce at her. He sees her crouch, and, with a complete circular sweep of her spear, sends them all flying backwards.

He stops on the rooftop closest to her, and begins scanning around the area. As he presses his hands against the concrete floors of buildings, he finds no traces of the portal. He looks around the streets and buildings, and there are also no signs of it. After ten minutes of circling around the area, he finds nothing.

“Any luck finding the portal?” Clint’s voice rings through the earpiece. Before they suited up, SHIELD gave the Delapsus members an ear communication that allows them to talk to the other team.

There are sounds throughout the group saying they haven’t seen anything.

“Keep looking for it-“ Steve grunts in pain. Naruto jerks into a stop, his foot hanging off a rooftop ledge.

“Captain?” Tony asks with tentative concern. A few seconds of silence, and Steve replies. “I’m alright. Keep searching for the portal.”

“Are you sure, Captain?” Bruce asks.

“I’ll be fine, Doctor.” Steve’s voice placating, but firm. “Besides, I’ve been hit with worse things.”

“The last time you said that, you were supporting a concussion from a truck thrown at your head.” Natasha states dryly.

There’s another pause of silence as Naruto looks blankly down at the alleyway. _‘What the hell?’_ He quickly shakes his head before resuming his search.

There is silence from Natasha’s end, but the group could feel her judgement of the captain through their earpiece. Finally, Davina speaks up offhandedly.

“Well, I don’t know how you did it Naruto, but you managed to date someone who’s more hard-headed than you are.”

Naruto barely finishes his jump, but stumbles on one of his landings at the comment. Honestly, he didn’t even know that Davina knew about that. Alexandra must’ve told her in their weird twin communication. However. _‘I may or may not still be dating him…’_ Naruto trails off at the thought, wincing at the other issue that needs to be taken care of. He opens his mouth to protest, but was cut off.

“I was about to say the same thing to Steve, Katniss.” Tony’s voice pops up in his ear.

“My name’s not Katniss.” She states, her voice coloring in annoyance, as if she forgot that the other team could hear her. The said woman turns her arrow up at the sky and shoots. The one arrow multiplies into dozens as it curves and aim downwards, shooting the enemies on the ground.

“Rephrasing that: Magic Katniss. Better?” The archer replies back with a huff and ignores the man.

“Ironman, focus.” Steve’s voice breaks through the communication again. If he was ever injured, there was no way that he could tell. “Keep scanning the streets for any civilians caught in the crossfire. Then, you can figure out a good nickname.”

“A good…” Tony grumbled. “I can do both, Cap, it’s called multi-tasking. Pretty sure that was thing in the forties.”

“I’ve detected the portal.” Alexandra interrupts. She turns and shoves her spear through a robot, and flings it towards a group coming towards her. “It’s one mile west from here.”

“I’m on it.” Naruto replies. He’s on the roof now, jumping from building to building. Other monsters are trying to attack him, but they keep being distracted by his clones. Once he arrives, he’s at a docking area. He lands on top of a warehouse.

He kneels down, places his right hand on the hard concrete, and concentrates. After almost a minute, he finds it. Naruto’s eyes shoot open and looking down. Right below him.

“Naruto, status.” Steve’s voice shakes him out of his stupor.

“I found it. It’s in a building right below me.” Naruto replies as he looks around to enter the building. He finds and opens the roof door just as Steve talks.

“Naruto, wait for reinforcements.”

Naruto shakes his head, he’s descending down the stairs. “It’s been open too long. I’m going to scout ahead.” He stops at the second to last step. His ribbon pulses strongly against his neck, nearly choking him.

He clenches his teeth. _‘This is bad.’_ He thinks as he moves to stand in front of the door. He quietly turns the door handle and opens the door.

He’s at the entrance of the second floor walkway with a large open view of the floor below him. At the site, he bites the inside of his cheek and quickly crouches down. _‘Good thing I didn’t burst open the door.’_

The floor has monsters covering almost every inch of space with a fifteen feet portal against the wall on the other side. The portal has the characteristic kaleidoscopic appearance, glowing and pulsing every few seconds as if it was alive. At his right, a pile of armored dead bodies lay against the large garage door, as if they tried to escape. However, despite the large amounts of monsters, the area was silent with the exception of varying types of footsteps walking around in circles.

Quietly, he closes the door behind him, and crawls towards the edge of the walkway. Fortunately, the second floor didn’t have any monsters walking around, but he doesn’t expect it to stay like that soon.

He raises his hand to his ear, and taps on the communication. “I found the portal.” He whispers, then hesitates as he stares at floor below. “It’s grown at least fifteen feet, and there are fiends crawling around.”

He hears a sharp inhale from the other end. “Davina and I will be there shortly.” Alexandra replies. “Avengers, if you will, please back us up. We will need assistance.”

“Roger that.” Steve’s voices rings through. “Until then, wait for us.”

Naruto pauses, but then nods to himself. “Got it.” The portal is larger than any of them expected. Even he knew that it’s a bad idea to tackle this by himself. The blond shuffles his body into a more comfortable position to settle down, and scan the surroundings more.

He feels his right side graze something.

_‘Huh?_’ He pauses his movements, and slowly turns around. Looming over him, a black arachnid twice his size stares back, its two front legs raising to attack and it’s fangs seeping with radioactive green venom. Naruto barely smothers his scream as he dodges one of the giant spider’s legs coming down at him.

The leg hits the metallic walkway, and a loud clang echoes into the area.

The shinobi sees the other leg rise up to stab again, and quick grabs a kunai from his pant pocket. Quickly and before the leg came down on him, he stabs the spider’s soft underside of where it’s heart would be. The monster screeches in pain and spazzes, the sound vibrating throughout the room. Naruto winces at the sound, but quickly places both hands on the spider’s underside and pushes the spider over his head before it lands on him.

The spider topples over the edge of the walkway and lands on the floor below, more voices sound out as some of the monsters are squashed by the unexpected weight.

Naruto lays his arms down to his side as he catches his breath. _‘Fuck, I hate spiders.’_ He pauses to listen for any sounds. And he hears nothing; not even footsteps. With his jaws clenching, he turns his head to look at the floor below.

All the monsters are staring back at him.

“Damn it!” He shouts before a chorus of war cries are heard from the monster. He quickly jumps up from his position, but stumbles. Some of the monsters are hitting the beams that connect the second floor, and it’s getting weaker. He raises his hands and forms clones.

As soon as the clones form, the beams collapse. Naruto and his clones quickly jump up and down into the fray.

As soon as he lands, he hears the static coming out of his earpiece. “Naruto, what’s happening?” Alexandra voice goes through his communication. Naruto moves sideways and avoids a clawed swipe towards him.

“They heard me. I’ll have to fight my way through this. I’ll try to get through the portal.” He backflips and dodges a spike aiming at his chest. He throws a shuriken and impales it into a monster’s eye. A few feet away from him, he sees one of his clones gets stabbed in the abdomen before dissipating.

“We’re almost there, hold on.” Alexandra reassures. Naruto doesn’t reply. He does a quick four seals formation, forms his hands into a triangle and blows through it. Fire comes out and burns the monsters in front of him. Seeing an opening, he runs towards the portal; his clones continuing to fight with monsters while making sure they don’t attack him.

With the help of his clones, he’s within a few inches of the portal. He readies his right hand to destroy it. Just as the tip of his finger barely touches the portal, he senses something and yanks it back. A mouth full of sharp teeth comes out of the portal and snaps at where his hand was.

He jumps back just as a Chimera walks out of the portal. Towering at eight feet., its lion’s head, snake tail, goat on its right shoulder, and dragon on its left all stare down at him. It’s sharply clawed hands curling in and out as if its goading him to fight.

Chimera roars and electricity shoots out of its mouth. Naruto dodges backwards, and is further from the portal. Once he lands firmly onto the ground, Naruto pauses to stare at the monster and think. He remembers that chimeras are powerful and difficult in close combat.

_‘I’ll need to find a way to distract him.’_ He thinks as the chimera roars again. He raises his hands again for seals. This time, four shadows clones appear in front of him.

Two of them sprint directly towards the chimera. The monster’s dragon head roars before taking its scaled left claw to slash down on the clones. The clones dodges the swipe before jumping above the dragon. Both slash the eyes and muzzle of the dragon. The dragon flinches back and roars in pain. Suddenly, the lion’s head turns, opens its jaws, and bites into the closest clone. The clone makes a startled yell, but just as the lion could fully bite down, he fizzes out.

While the chimera is distracted, Naruto and the rest of his clones make way to the back of it. Just as the lion becomes confused over the disappearing enemy. Two of the clones with Naruto launch their attack on the lion. The lion bellows in pain from the first kunai slice across its face. The lion becomes silent as the second kunai quickly follows with a slice to its neck.

Naruto turns his attention to the goat, and raises his kunai to attack. A flash of green appears at the corner of his eye. He turns his kunai to block the snake’s bite. _‘Damn! I forgot about him!’_ Naruto curses. He back tracts as the snakes rears back to its place, staring him down.

The goat bleeps as frost starts to gather into its mouth. And, as soon as it appears, the goat blasts ice towards the clones, causing all of them to disappear.

Naruto grinds his teeth at the loss of his clones, and looks at the chimera again. Having the first strike did a number on the chimera. With one blind dragon and a dead lion’s head, the monster is barely standing on its two feet. The goat’s head stared straight down at Naruto while the snake looms over the blind dragon, guarding the now vulnerable head.

_‘Time to finish this.’_ Naruto begins to sign for his shadow clones. Before he can finish, the snake opens its mouth, and purple poison shoots at him. The ninja quickly breaks his form and dodges to the side. Immediately, the chimera rushes towards him.

Naruto blocks the swipe from the goat’s claw with his kunai, and quickly ducks underneath the monster. As is behind the chimera, he turns and barely dodges the snake’s bite heading for his face.

The ninja tightens his grip on his kunai and makes a blind slash at the snake. The blade cuts the side of the snake’s neck, red blood immediately pouring out of it.

Before Naruto can make another move, the snake changes its direction and swerves itself to bite on his shoulder.

Naruto grits his teeth in pain, but takes his chance to slice the snake’s head. Naruto move back as the Chimera roars in pain, its blood already caked on their left shoulder and its decapitated tail coating the floor around it. He winces as he pulls the dead snake’s head out of his shoulder, and places pressure on his wounded shoulder. _‘Damn!’_ Naruto curses, feeling the snake’s poison already traveling through his arm and shoulder. _‘This isn’t looking good.’_

**_‘No shit, brat.’ _**Kurama snarks, startling the ninja. Naruto can feel the demon’s quick paces in his home, the open gates of the seal rattling every time he brushes his tails against it. **_‘Let me out, kit.’_** Kurama continues.

_‘No!’_ Naruto counters back. _’I can still do this!’_ He winces again as he lets go of his wounded shoulder, and reaches into his pocket, searching for an antidote. With his fast healing, he can feel the wound trying to close, but it keeps being cut off by the poison. He continues to stare at the now panting chimera, but feels his eyes starts to blur. _‘I need to hold them off until the others get here.’_ He continues sluggishly, the poison spreading much faster than he’s expecting.

Kurama snarls. **_‘Do not be stubborn! We need to regroup now with the others before the poison spread. I-’_**

Before the demon could say more, they both hear a roar from the distance. It sounds familiar.

The garage door bursts open.

“Hulk smash!”

The green beast roars as he swings his fists around the surrounding monsters. Even with his drowsiness, Naruto can hear the cracks of bones as they’re thrown back by the impact of the nearly invulnerable hero. He sees the Chimera startle and becomes distracted by Hulk. However, the distraction doesn’t last as the monster turns its attention back at the ninja, and rushes towards him.

Behind Hulk, Alexandra jumps above his head with her spear aiming forward. She stabs a floating red orb, and lowers her spear down to impale it into the ground as she lands. She quickly scans around the area before she lands her eyes on the ninja as he’s struggling against fighting off the chimera. Her eyes widen at his wounded state, but quickly refocuses and starts fighting off the monsters near her.

She quickly clears them with a large sweep of her spear and a quick spell of wind to slice through them. She runs towards Naruto, Davina is at the newly made entrance, and shooting every monster that’s heading to her sister.

“Naruto! Are you alright?” She asks as she continues running towards his direction. She notices the wound on his shoulder as he fends off the monster with one hand.

“I’m fine! Just need a little help.” Naruto says as he backpaddles from one of Chimera’s claw swipes. Pain shoots to his shoulder from the movement, and he grasps his shoulder with a wince.

Alexandra’s eyes harden when she sees the Chimera. With a spear in both of her hands, she sprints towards the Chimera. The chimera notices her, and the lion head opens his mouth for another electric attack.

She then disappears into a black mist in front of it. The chimera stops it’s attack and looks around. A black cloud appears behind it. Naruto watches as Alexandra reappears and thrusts her spear through the Chimera’s back and into its chest.

The chimera roars as the spear protrudes to where its heart was and falls down, dead.

Alexandra reappears in front of Naruto, and quickly mutters an antidote spell on him before turning her back to him to shield him from other monsters. Immediately, Naruto feels the poison wash away from him and his healing reactivate. He’s still weak from what it did to him, but it’s better than nothing.

The first thing that Alexandra notices was that there are more monsters appearing in front of her, despite Hulk fighting most them by himself. She tightens her grip; this isn’t looking good.

“Naruto, are you still able to fight?” She asks, her spear raised to attack.

Naruto releases his grip from his shoulder and grabs another kunai. “Yeah. But it looks like we’ll need to go through those fiends.” He raises his kunai.

“There’s no need to.”

A sharp whizzing sound cuts through the air. An arrow hits the center of the portal. Naruto turns to see Davina with her bow, still in shooting position. She lowers her bow and raises an empty hand. A black sphere appears in her hand, bits of tendril moving around her fingers. On the portal, black spreads from the arrow to outwards until it completely covers what was once the kaleidoscopic color. Some of the black extends to the outer rim, wrapping around it like the tendrils on Davina’s hand.

Davina slowly clenches on the sphere in her hand. As she clenches it, the black tendrils also squeeze on the portal. Davina continues to slowly squeeze tighter and tighter against the sphere, as if it was giving her resistance from the pressure. The portal continues to be slowly tightened by the black magic. Then finally, in a smooth motion, Davina quickly crushes the now small sphere. The black slams itself and the portal together into small black circle. The circle dissipates upwards into the air, leaving no traces.

Alexandra rushes over to Naruto and raises a hand over his shoulder. Glowing green light surrounds her hand and he feels the weakness slowly leave. Around them, Hulk and Davina continue to pick off the remaining monsters with renewed vigor.

A few moments later, he hears engines blasting near him, and turns to see the rest of the Avengers climbing through the room’s new opening. He hears Hulk roar as he starts destroying the last couple groups of monsters, and sees Natasha rush towards the green rage. Steve runs towards him. “Are you alright?”

Naruto nods tiredly, feeling the adrenaline rush out of him from the battle. He feels the bite wound become smaller the longer Alexandra heals him. He sees Steve’s shoulder barely slumps in relief, and reaches out to grasp his uninjured shoulder.

Naruto gives a small smile up at Steve, feeling the warmth of his hand underneath the glove. The soldier turns his attention back to Alexandra, his hand not leaving his shoulder.

“We’ll debrief back in the Tower.”

Alexandra nods. “Yes, Captain.”

  


* * *

  


In the Avenger’s conference room, the area dark and devoid of people. Then, something in the darkness swirls. It continues to swirl and expand, taking more darkness and causing the room to become brighter. Finally, it stops at the shape of a black portal. A foot comes out of the portal, and soon the Avengers and Delapsus walk out of it.

“What the hell was that?” As soon as they’re fully inside the tower, Steve takes his helmet off and glares at Naruto. “I told you to wait for Hulk!” The rest of the Avenger stay quietly as they inspect their weapons. Except Tony. He’s leaning against the conference table with his arms cross, his face amused at the incoming “couple’s spat”.

“Look, I knew what I was doing! I’ve been doing these by myself for years, and I know what these portals do.” Naruto fires back, resisting the urge to clench his fist. The first aid spell coupled with his accelerated healing has him almost back to normal. “If I hadn’t done something, Davina wouldn’t have time to destroy it.”

“We still would’ve found another way where you wouldn’t have gotten injured!”

Naruto grits his teeth. He wants to shout more and scream in frustration at Steve. But he holds back. After years of battle and talking to leaders in trying to work together, he’s learned that shouting doesn’t get anywhere. And he doesn’t want a shouting match with this; especially with Steve. Naruto takes a deep breath, and he talks.

“I get it. This is your world and you know it better than me. But I know these portals. I know what happens when it’s open for too long, even for a minute. Something strong comes through it, stronger than one person from our organization can handle, and, before another members comes to assist, the world dies.” Naruto takes another breath, and pauses slightly. Steve crosses his arms, but doesn’t say anything. He understands that as his cue to continue.

“I don’t want that to happen here, and I need you to trust me. Yes, we’re working together now, but the destroying the portals is the only priority.” Naruto pauses. “Even though I’ve been here for a couple months, I’ve grown to really like this world.” He turns his gaze to Steve, his blue eyes almost glowing. “I don’t want to lose this world.”

There’s a pause in the room, the words resonating from in the room. Finally, Steve speaks firmly his gaze locking on Naruto. “We won’t lose this world.” He continues, but with a softened voice. “I understand the urgency. Especially since we’ve seen first-hand on how the portal can be destructive. But you and Delapsus aren’t alone in this anymore. We’ve handled our fair share of monsters from different planets; we can hold our own. With the both of us working, there’s no need to make rash decision or be the only person fighting. We can fight smarter now, by working together. And to prevent any more casualties.”

The younger man glances back at Alexandra, waiting for her response. Alexandra looks back and forth between the two men before finally landing her gaze onto Naruto. Offhandedly, the ninja hears Tony ask someone for popcorn.

Just as she pursed her lips, Naruto knew he lost.

“I agree with the Captain, Naruto.” Naruto opens his mouth to protest, but Alexandra shoots him a stern look. “We both know that you can finish portals by yourself. Afterall, you have the most combat experience out of everyone in our division. However, experience or not, it’s still dangerous to go alone against active portals. And now that we are in a deal with the Avenger, it’s unnecessary to do our missions by ourselves.”

Naruto bites his lips, feeling like a chunin again. Alexandra’s face softens and her voice becomes friendlier.

“While I’ll be leaving this world to you, I understand that you will now be in charge of portals here. And so, this is my recommendation. As a friend, not as a leader.” 

Alexandra continues to stare at Naruto. He sees the ribbon on her left wrist glow. _‘Please work with them.’_ Naruto hears her voice through his head. _‘I know that we’ve had unfortunate experiences in working with others. but.’ _She pauses. _‘These people are extremely skilled and will help us in our mission. Plus, I think they’re good people.’_ She glances at Steve before looking back at Naruto. _‘Don’t you think?’_

Naruto holds back his indignation, feeling his pride wounded. But, she’s right. There’s no point of getting injured doing this solo. Even when he was a Konoha shinobi, he knew that it was always better to work in groups. But how do you work with people after years of working alone? Or seeing others who try to help, and get killed in the process?

**_‘Trust your instincts, kit._**’ Kurama’s voice echoes in his head. **_‘You have followed them for your whole life. They have never failed you then, and they will not now.’ _**Naruto turns to look at Steve. The soldier’s face was blank as he stared back. He almost couldn’t read him. But he knows him. He knows his eyes. And in them, there was a look of restrained hope. With that, he knew his choice. Perhaps, he knew this was the right choice since they entered into the portal, and through the streets of New York.

Naruto takes a deep breath. “Okay.” He knows that this was the right choice. But why, even though he knows he can take care of himself, does he feel like he’s sentenced the man he cares about to death?

He needs time to think.

Before he could hear the others reply, he quickly turns around and walks out of the room.

  


* * *

  


It was three hours before Steve came to look for him.

Naruto’s standing on the landing pad, staring up at the skies. It was nighttime, and he was hoping that he could find some stars. But, even with the tower’s impressive height, New York’s smog still covers the night sky. And, for what feels like the infinite time, he feels homesick for Konoha.

The younger man hears slow footsteps walking towards him, but doesn’t leave his gaze from the skies. He didn’t need to turn to know who it is. He waits for the other man to speak.

“Naruto.” Finally, he turns to the spoken person.

Steve is standing next to him. He’s changed out of his uniform and into a white T-shirt with jeans. He smells clean, as if he just showered before coming here. Naruto opens his mouth to speak, but Steve gives him a look that silences him.

“I wanted to apologize for what happened after the battle.” Steve speaks. Naruto bits his lips to prevent him from speaking out, and waits for him to continue.

“I was worried about you. I know you’re capable of handling yourself, but my emotions got to me.” Steve’s jaw clenches. “I get it, your mission is secret, and you couldn’t say anything about it. But was everything else a lie?” Steve gives him a pained stare. “Did you want to be with me because of the Avengers?”

“Wha-No!” Naruto shakes his head furiously. “I didn’t even know who you or your team was, honest!”

“It seems hard to believe that, after months of dating, it never occurred to you about my job?”

“No! I really didn’t know! Up until I saw you at Chinatown, I never thought that you were with the same Avengers on TV.”

“You never thought about all the times I had to leave in the middle of our dates?”

Naruto shrugs. “I thought it was about work. You said that it was dangerous. But I really never thought it meant you being a leader of superheroes.” The younger man can feel the disbelief coming from Steve. He tries not to scrunch up his shoulders sheepishly, now realizing his obliviousness from all of this.

**_‘Kit…’_** Kurama sighs. **_‘When it comes to people you care about, you are dense about these things’_** The demon snorts. _‘Not. Helping!’_ Naruto shoots back. He hears a lightest snickers from the fox demon before he feels him curl up to sleep, already bored with mortals and their drama.

Steve shakes his head. “And even then, after you knew my secret, you never thought about to tell me about yours?”

“I wanted to.” Naruto says quietly. “But…I was afraid. The dangers from being associated with the organization, is serious. You’ve seen it first-hand, and that wasn’t even the worst. I just…” He clenches his jaw, and stares at Steve. “I just didn’t want to bring you into this mess.”

Both of them stay silent, thinking about how to talk to the other.

Steve lets out a tiring exhale, his head hanging low and his eyes crinkles, deepening his wrinkles. He looks like he’s aged in decades. Naruto’s heart tightens at the sight. ”It’s just.” Steve shakes his head. “Ever since I woke up to this world, I don’t know what to believe anymore. I thought I could believe this, but now…I don’t know.”

Naruto stays silent, unknown what else to say. Steve waits for moment, deep in his own thought. Finally, he shakes his head and turns to walk towards the exit. As Naruto looks at the retreating back, a moment of panic rushes through him at the thought of losing him. Not knowing what else to do, Naruto did what he is best at: talking. 

“Look, when I first came here, I didn’t know what I was doing okay?” Steve pauses at the sound of his voice. Naruto continues. “This place…was completely different from where I’m from, and I had no idea where to start. The buildings were so tall that I could barely see the sky, and the constant noise from honking cars still bothers me. And there’s the technology. Did you know that in my world, the most advance thing was a cellphone the size of your head? The antenna had to be up, and you had to be in a certain spot in order to call someone. Here, the cellphones are smaller than my hand and I can call anyone anywhere.”

“So yeah, I knew that I was supposed to be here for a mission. But when I first stepped onto the ground here, I was scared and alone. Then you came. Literally picking me off of my feet and asked me out for dinner. And after a few dates, I got to know you more. To know that you were just as confused about this world as I was. And suddenly, everything wasn’t so bad anymore because I had you. You and your slang and quiet smiles and stubborn-as-fuck character. I know I’ve lied to you about me for this entire relationship, and I’m sorry. But I need you to know, to believe: the emotions I have with you, before and now, is the truth.” He pauses, his hands clench at his sides.

“I was afraid that, if I told you at any point when we were dating, that it’ll all just disappear. As if it never happened.” _‘And I’ll be alone, again.’_

Steve doesn’t say anything, and Naruto has no choice but to stare helplessly at his back. Hoping and wanting for him to say anything. After a moment, the man turns and stares at him.

“Language.” He says, the corner of his mouth twitches slightly.

Naruto feels the tension leave from his as he slumps his shoulder. He feels his lips pull into a half grin, willing away the tears building at the corner of his eyes. “Asshole. I just poured my heart to you and that’s all you’ve got to say—"

In a few seconds, Steve strides his way toward him, cups his face with his hands, and kisses him. They’ve kissed each other hundreds of time before, ranging from sweet to passionate. But this…something about this was different.

_‘This.’_ Naruto thought faintly as he wraps his arms around Steve’s waist, and kisses back with same intensity. This is the raw emotion that he’s slowly associating it with Steve. Something that, he thought after a few days of not seeing him, would fade away. But it hasn’t and, in fact, has burst with intensity that he never expected. And this raw emotion, it’s something that he’s now forced to realize.

He’s in love with Steve Rogers.

They pull back from the kiss, but leans forward again to rest their foreheads against each other. Their hands rubbing on their waist and face in a comforting movement. Naruto’s eyes close at the serenity of it, and the realization of his feelings for the man in front of him.

“I’m still mad at you.” Steve whispers, his eyes closed too, as his breath and words caress Naruto’s cheeks. “But this is one of the best things that’s happened to be in a while. And I’m not going to run away from this. I want this.”

Naruto swallows as he tries to get rid of the tightness in his throat. “I want this too. I want this to work, so badly.”

Under the cloudy skies and gleaming lights of New York, the two stayed there for hours, grasping for each other’s comfort. And finally, after nearly a month of whirlwinds, Naruto can breathe a sigh of relief. _‘Everything will be okay. We’ll get through this, together.’_

  


* * *

  


“What do you mean I can’t live in my apartment?!”

“Both the Ms. Heartillys and I had talked about the agreement after the battle. _Extensively_.” Fury states in a tiring emphasis. “And we’ve agreed that, as long as you are doing your missions in our world, you will live here, in the Avenger’s tower.”

Naruto grits his teeth and lets out a growl of frustration. Why didn’t they tell him this before they left? He likes his apartment! And what about his job?

In the corner of his eye, he sees Tony come up to him and clap him on the shoulder. “Don’t sweat it, Whiskers.” Tony says languidly. Naruto suppresses the twitch in his eye. “We have plenty of room for you here. Honestly, just pick a floor and we’ll get you set up.”

Naruto opens his mouth to protest again, but stops. Wait.

_‘Pick a floor?’_ Now Naruto is gaping at the other man in disbelief. _‘What am I gonna to do with a whole floor?!’_ He feels a hand on the small of his back. He turns to see Steve smiling reassuringly back at him, understanding his disbelief. At the sight, the younger man relaxes and smiles back, happy that he has him.

Tony snorts at the two idiots making dopey smiles at each other, and lets go of Naruto’s shoulder.

“Look.” Tony begins, interrupting the two love birds. “The apartment you were staying in, was shit. Even with all the bugs we planted-“ _‘Ah, so that’s what those were.’_ Naruto vaguely thinks of all the black dots he’s been killing in his room. “-it’s still a risky place to stay in. Especially now that your little whiskered face is broadcasted in all the major news channels.”

The ninja widens his eyes and stiffens. Tony, ignoring his silent panicking, continues talking. “Which we’ve kindly asked them to delete the footage. But there still might be some people who have already seen it the hour before it was taken off.” He waves his hand lackadaisically. “It’ll be kept under wraps by tomorrow.”

Naruto, calm from his explanation, now squints at him suspiciously. _‘What does he mean by that?’_ He shakes his head. _‘Maybe I shouldn’t know.’_

“Hey.” Naruto turns his head to see a smiling Steve. “Tony and I usually don’t agree, but I’m with him on this one. If a portal opens, it’ll be faster for us to group together and track it down. Also, the tower is safe; JARVIS makes sure of that.” Steve’s smiles drops slightly, but his blue eyes gleam a bit more hopefully.

“Plus, it would be nice to see you in the tower.” Did Steve’s eyes get bigger? _‘Damn it!’_ Naruto curses, seeing what his lover was doing. In his head, off in the distance, he can hear Kurama chuckling from his spot.

He stares back at Steve and trying to resist his puppy eyes. At last, the younger man sighs and looks away. They didn’t even stare at each other for three seconds, and he knows that he lost. His shoulders slump in grudging defeat. Steve beams at this defeated boyfriend, and moves his arm to wrap around his waist.

Tony crosses his arms and smirks in triumph, already thinking about how to personalize a floor for the ninja.

“Well, son,” Fury says, a hint of smug in his voice. “Welcome to the Avengers.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I have one more idea for this series (a prelude) before I take a big break from it. Please leave a kudos/comment if you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> If like, please leave a kudo/comment!


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